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Why Foreign Missions? 18b. John 20.20-23 and Mission of the Disciples in
John’s Gospel
In the following short study,[1] I will suggest a possible
explanation for what unites the three verses of John 20.21-23 with their three
foci of mission, receiving the Holy Spirit, and the forgiveness of sins. The
passage reads as follows in the New
Revised Standard Version: John 20:20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his
side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus
said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I
send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them[2] and
said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the
sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained" (NRSV).
My suggestion is that these verses are both
theologically related and appear to be based on an Old Testament passage, Ezekiel
36-37. This Old Testament background
brings out the theological p…

Issues
Facing Missions Today 13: The Local Church’s Direct Involvement in Foreign
Missions A clear trend in foreign mission
support by local churches in recent years in North America has been to seek direct
involvement. Robert Wuthnow examined
this trend five years ago, and the following discussion uses his statistics to
describe this trend.[1] While recognizing that his description is
still too general for detailed planning, it does seem somewhat helpful for
trying to get a handle on what Western missions and missionaries are
experiencing in the last decade or so. I
would like to suggest that Wuthnow helps us see how and why changes in the
local churches’ involvement in missions is both a positive trend that at the
same time undermines needed missionary work by long-term missionaries engaged
in proclamation ministries. The
discussion that follows is too brief for such a thesis, and it will undoubtedly
frustrate those who wish that it were nuanced in one way or another. Neverthele…